A package of twenty two Volvo articulated haulers and four excavators has re-established a long standing relationship between The Walters Group of Hirwaun, Aberdare and Volvo Construction Equipment.
In all, eight Volvo A25Gs, six A30Gs and eight A40Gs along with two Volvo thirty eight tonne EC380Es and a couple of smaller twenty two tones EC220Es have been added to the Walters fleet which now totals some 350 items of plant. 2015 has been the Company’s busiest year ever for bulk muck shifting projects in the highways and quarrying sector according to Group Director Huw Richards. “We’ve had many years of experience operating Volvo products in many applications and their pedigree is sound in terms of reliability, good residuals and a strong support network throughout the country. As we needed to invest in additional equipment to satisfy the projects we are currently undertaking nationwide, our past experiences together with a competitive package on offer were the deciding factors on opting for the latest Volvo products,” he said.
The addition of the new Tier IV final A25s, A30s and A40s brings the total number of Volvo articulated haulers to 57 in a fleet of articulated trucks numbering 100. “We opted for these models basically to balance the fleet out so now we have an appropriate mix of twenty five, thirty and forty tonne trucks at our disposal,” says Huw.
The trucks have been deployed across the whole of the UK on bulk earthmoving contracts currently being undertaken by the Walters Group. For example, they can be found hard at work on the Heysham to M6 link, the A556 Knutsford to Bowden link, the A160 / A180 Port of Immingham improvement, the A5 to M1 link and the A465 Heads of the Valley 2 project in South Wales. In addition they can be found on a relatively new and major multi-million m³ muck shift contract the Company is undertaking as earthworks provider to a major quarrying company in Leicestershire.
The latest G series haulers from Volvo meet the requirements of Stage IV final emissions legislation being powered by electronically controlled, six cylinder turbo charged Volvo V-ACT diesel engines. These feature high torque at low engine speeds, resulting in good fuel efficiency, high performance, quicker engine response and less wear, i.e. long service life. Purpose built by Volvo, the engine is designed to exactly match the Volvo drive train, ensuring the best use of power and torque, even in tough working conditions. Delivering exceptional fuel efficiency, it is matched to a torque converter with built in lock-up function and fitted with a fully automatic fast adaptive transmission. The rest of the Volvo designed and built powertrain has been reinforced to cope with the higher torque output of the engine.
With carrying capacities of 24, 28 and 39 tonnes respectively the haulers can attain a maximum speed of 53kph for fast and productive cycle times. The haulers are also fitted with CareTrack as standard, which is Volvo’s telematics system that enables remote monitoring of a wide range of machine functions (e.g. location, fuel consumption, service reminders etc.) thus optimizing customer operations.
The two new Volvo EC380E and two new EC220E excavators have been added to the fleet to replace some older machines which are approaching 10000 hours of service life. “Again it has been a while since we last took Volvo excavators into the fleet, but decided it was time to look seriously at their new E series range of machines and added them to the overall package. So far we haven’t been disappointed with them and they are doing a good job for us,” says Huw.
Again, the new E series excavators from Volvo now come with the Tier IV final engine treatment delivering high digging and breakout forces alongside reduced emissions and maximum fuel efficiency. The machines’ hydraulics are perfectly matched to the engine and are controlled by an advanced system which provides on-demand flow and reduces power losses within the circuit. Volvo’s unique ECO mode contributes up to 9% of the machine’s total efficiency – without any loss of performance in most operating conditions. As well as improving fuel efficiency, this increases controllability for more precise performance. Otherwise, Volvo’s integrated work mode system offers the operator a choice of five work modes according to the task in hand – I (Idle), F (Fine), G (General), H (Heavy) or P (Power max) – for optimum efficiency and machine performance. When the controls have been inactive for a pre-set amount of time, the excavator can be programmed to automatically reduce engine speed or even shut down to further reduce fuel consumption and noise. Operators can keep track of both current and average fuel consumption via a simple gauge in the cab.
